Tag Archive for 'Burn Collector'

Al Burian, best known as writer/editor of BURN COLLECTOR zine and as a musician with the band MILEMARKER, returns to Quimby’s for a rare North American public appearance. The former Chicagoan and current Berlin ex-pat was a columnist for PUNK PLANET and more recently has contributed to VICE.com. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of BURN COLLECTOR, and Burian will celebrate by presenting a panoply of zines from all eras of his publishing career, including some new publications and mini-comics heretofore unavailable in the USA. Al Burian is known as an engaging, thought-provoking, and fearlessly funny spoken-word performer. This is his only midwestern date!

“Burian is one of our generation’s great storytellers, a wily and insightful observer of the human condition.” – Davy Rothbart, Found magazine

Al Burian began self-publishing in the early 1990’s. He has published numerous books in the USA, including Burn Collector: Collected Stories from 1-9 (2000) and Natural Disaster (2007) as well as the novel Sämtliche Niederlagen (2013) in Germany. His writing and comics have been anthologized by PM Press, Microcosm Publishing, Pegacorn Press, Ventil Verlag, and Stickfigure Publishing.

Celebrating fifteen years of publication as well as the appearance of issue number 15, Al Burian returns to Quimby’s to present a new installment of his long-running personal zine Burn Collector. Burian began distributing his work through the tight-knit network of the DIY punk music scene in the mid-nineties. Burn Collector caught on because of its unusual content—in a scene rife with dogmatic diatribes and bland record reviews, Burian presented his readers with humorous anecdotes, philosophical musings, nuanced descriptions of odd locales and curious characters. Burn Collector #15 is the “Berlin vs. Chicago” issue: contents include an essay on the Berlin Wall by Chicago’s Anne Elizabeth Moore, and an interview with Chicago zine hero Liam Warfield, who debunks the myth of the endless techno party.

Al Burian was a Chicago resident from 2000-2008. His book, Burn Collector: Collected Stories from One through Nine has just been republished by PM Press. He currently lives in Berlin.

“Al Burian is one of our generation’s great storytellers, a wily and insightful observer of the human condition.” -Davy Rothbart, Found Magazine and This American Life

“Al Burian has become one of the most cultishly adored figures in the American punk underground. Burn Collector pairs existential dread with rapacious wit.” -Jessica Hopper, Chicago Reader

Also joining the bill will be BC#15 contributors Liam Warfield (War Against the Idiots, The Skeleton, Secret Beach) and Anne Elizabeth Moore (Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity, former editor of now-defunct Punk Planet)